The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-04-09
CONCERNING BOOKS,
By e. cAvAzzA.

CONCERNING BOOKS.
BYE. CAvAZZA.
In virtue of one of those atmospheric con-
ditions which now and then effect the liter
airy world, it seems at present to be the priv
ilege and duty Of every citizen of the literary
republic to express his individual views in
regard to fiction, it's art and its purposes
| And so long as these expressions are made
with liberality and courtesy, the discussion
cannot fail to result in good to the art Of
novel writing Both realists and idealists
win have hearing; and the public will also
make known its wants, which few writer's
are in position to disregard, and which are,
after ALL the voice of the spirit of the centu-
ny and a natural and wholesome guide to its
| literary utterances. In this latter part of
the 10Th century. literature seems rather ex-
detrimental than constructive But this state
of apparent distrust and denial of certain
forms of art hitherto almost unquestioned,
| is, it may be believed, only transition peri
| cd; and there is comfort in the opinion of
the ancients that chaos was an impulse of
the harmony of the universe, and in the hope
that like elements having assorted themselves
with like in process Of the present discord,
the cosmic material of literature will be
ready for the coming race of noYelists. This
is a period of preparation; an ebb tide of
art, and it is not unlikely that the next CEN
fury will see refluent great waves, upon
which will ride in some nobly freighted
minds. When one novelist denies the exist
ence of genius, and another calls realism an
accursed thing, and romance is pronounced
rocco and poetry unnatural and out of date
and the existence and value Of ideals is siren
uously denied by a chorus of young authors
| lit simply means that they want new def
nitions of these words WHICH signify SO much
to most OF US. These protests are the not
teo fortunate expressions of genuine desire
| for truth.
| What, then, is truth, and where shall we
look for her and follow and find her? is the
| question Of the modern novelists. Truth in
fiction is an elusive spirit, not to be conjured
| by formulas or theories, but glanclng here
and there among the pages of romance like
an Dread between the tree-stems of old
world woods. Truth appears among the
Mexican temples of the sun, or the eastern
deserts; where the Fair God is a hope or
Ben Hur watches the stars, in the mystic
robes Of the ancient She, or the modish
gowns Of the Fair Barbarian. 1t is quite
possible thas-.he Importance of the structure
Of novels relatively to their spirit, is at pres
ent overrated Certain prominent writers of
| fiction seem to think it fairly indecorous to
include events in their scheme Of q story.
Designating the axiom that truth is stranger
| than fiction, they resolve that, because in the
| sensational novel there has been an abuse of
the power OF dramatic events, they will have
none of them; and their heroines and heroes
| are, therefore, condemned to c0lorless ex-
| istence without episodes. other than such as
their own character and action may prepare
| for them. The histories of these fictitious
men and women seem smoothly monotonous
to many readers, since most persons expert
ence, individually, more yicisstudes than
would afford themes for half a dozen novels
| of the modern realistic school. Yet these
studies Of still life-sc to name them-afford
| pleasure to the same readers who find moth
| ing irreconcilable with their instinct for
truth in the solemn tragedy of Dr. Jekyll
and Mr.. Hyde, where law invests q physical
impossibilty.
Perhaps there is no more infallible test of
fiction than one not possible to apply at pres
ent to modern work-that of the endurance
Of its hold upon the imagination of success
siye generations of readers. An eminent in
stance of this quality, which will occur to
every one, is the plays of Shakespeare He
| took his stories where he found them in his
tory or in the Italian norelle; and although
the plays contain not only extraordinary
events and complications, but also inconsis-
tencies and impossibilities, they remain
| synonym of dramatic truth. not unnatu-
| raj conclusion may be, then, that the exterior
| form OF fiction is not, after all, of so very
| great moment; that the novelist has right
| to use his own taste and judgment in the
| more or less lavish use of dramatic situations
and occurrences; but that all possible truth
in the development of character and action,
as moved by the invisible forces of mind or
tangible pressure of circumstances, will
probably be the chief aim of the coming mas
tiers Of fiction. That partisan of the idealist
faction who called realism an accursed thing
spoke in haste, error and discourtesy, for re-
alism is good, not as an end, but means
But the false sentence was followed by
true and noble expression, to the effect that
what is needed is more faith in the ideal and
more freedom to follow it,
In the fervor Of fight between realists and
idealists, sharp dividing line has been
drawn between the two camps, which should
be allied, not at variance. Meanwhile, truth
is not confined to this or that side of the ar
bitrary division of the field of fiction, nor is
the goddess likely to come forth from her
machine to utterly uplift or wholly discom-
| fort either party.
M. lola, the father of all them that handle
the muck-rake, looks for truth in the gutter.
| The American realists, refined and conscien-
tious, regard the personages Of their novels
with the solemn single eye of the photo
graphic camera. Hence the portraits which
they produce possess the qualities and the
relative deficiencies Of photograph. They
are well posed and accurate in detail, and
are deseryedly popular. And yet, however
great may be the skill of the operator, these
portraits bear the likeness of the chance ex-
preston Of the moment, not the combination
Of past and latent emotion, which is the glo-
ry of portrait from the hand of master of
painting. Yet the art Of photography is ex-
ceedingly valuable, and one of the greatest
benefits which science has given to society,
although, as applied to fiction, it will hardly
do more than prepare accurate studies of in
dividual and composite types for the use of
novelists Of the future. There is, moreover,
lack of interest in the array of likenesses
of these everyday persons that one has not
known, of whom no acquaintance or friend
ship gives insight of ideal traits, glorifies and
sees Alright
In an article in Roman journal Sig.
Michele Lessona, writing of the uses of So
lar light, says that the naturalist, M. Lacaze-
Duthiers has found that the substance best
lifted to receive Photographic images is no
other than the expressed juices Of the mol
iusk murer, the very Tyrian purple of the
ancients. Perhaps some novelist will next
discover how the literary photograph plate
may be made more sensitive by somewhat of
Tyrian dye, that we may see and recognize
the kingly element in the nature of our neigh
bors and ourselves.
The group of novels at the moment await